With her Numinous Tarotscopes for May 2019, Bess Matassa has a personalized audio reading for each sign …
Illustration: Price Lauder
MAY CARD FOR THE COLLECTIVE: 4 of Pentacles Rx
The symbolic “ski lodge” of the Tarot, 4 of Pentacles energy asks us to hunker down with the resources on hand, sealing up energetic leaks and finding sanctuary inside solid boundaries.
Which relationships, projects, and emotional patterns have left you feeling out in the cold? What would feel warmer, more magnetic, and more fitting of the fiercely resilient being you were born to be? May 2019 brings a month for turning towards what truly nourishes us.
Ruled by Capricorn, this card comes through during an astrological season when we are being beckoned towards greater authority over our lives overall, as we divine what is truly essential for our evolution. Try to see each moment as an opportunity to “seal the deal,” literally moving closer to what feels best in your bones.
Read on for the card, mantra, and cosmic audio reading for your sign …
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TAURUS OR TAURUS RISING: Knight of Wands Rx “A shake of the hips shakes off shame.”
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GEMINI OR GEMINI RISING: High Priestess Rx “Shutting off the static tunes me in.”
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CANCER OR CANCER RISING: 2 of Cups Rx “My softness is my human right.”
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LEO OR LEO RISING: 10 of Cups “I am ready and willing to get closer to what’s here.”
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VIRGO OR VIRGO RISING: The Emperor Rx “I am a vital part of my own natural process.”
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LIBRA OR LIBRA RISING: Page of Swords “I wield my clarity with curiosity.”
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SCORPIO OR SCORPIO RISING: Page of Cups Rx “What may seem silly is a source of strength.”
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SAGITTARIUS OR SAGITTARIUS RISING: 5 of Cups Rx “Syncing up with my instincts uncovers what’s vital.”
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CAPRICORN OR CAPRICORN RISING: Death Rx “Sloughing off old skin can be a sweet sensation.”
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AQUARIUS OR AQUARIUS RISING: 5 of Pentacles Rx “Inside the feeling of emptiness is the fullness I crave.”
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PISCES OR PISCES RISING: King of Pentacles Rx “The person I’m becoming is already here.”
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ARIES OR ARIES RISING: Judgment Rx “Letting life move through me is a brand new way to be.”
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Learn more about Bess and her work, book a reading, and check out all her personalized Astro + Tarot offerings HERE.
Here comes spring! And it’s a time to practice the art of receiving, says Bess Matassa, who also has a personal audio Tarot reading for April 2019 for each sign …
April 2019 card for the collective: The Empress
As we transition from Aries to Taurus energy in April 2019, The Empress asks us to move beyond our scarcity mentality. Ruled by Venus, The Empress presides over the holy heaven-on-earth trinity of sex, beauty, and money. She is the QUEEN OF RECEIVING, and this month she is asking us to smoke out any old stories about our lack of worth, so we can reap all the juicy fruits that are ripe for the plucking.
In the weeks to come, let The Empress remind you that pursuing what you love is the fastest way to magnetize more of this into your life. What if it didn’t have to be any harder than that? Once there, try not to get caught up in the self-sabotaging cycle of immediately wondering how long it will last. Imagine if, by simply saying “yes” to only what feels good, this opulence continued to propagate organically in your world.
Read on for the card, mantra, and cosmic audio reading for your sign …
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ARIES or ARIES RISING: 4 of Cups “My feelings are a force that create my foundations.”
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TAURUS or TAURUS RISING: The Wheel of Fortune “Letting myself grow wider is the way towards wisdom.”
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GEMINI or GEMINI RISING: Page of Wands “Getting back to basics makes me feel bedazzled.”
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CANCER or CANCER RISING: 2 of Pentacles “Liberation comes from not carrying it all.”
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LEO or LEO RISING: 10 of Pentacles “I pledge allegiance to the light that never goes out.”
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VIRGO or VIRGO RISING: 8 of Cups “I am loosening my hold on what’s already leaving.”
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LIBRA or LIBRA RISING:The Star Rx “Returning to my whole self is the homecoming I’ve awaited.”
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SCORPIO or SCORPIO RISING: Ace of Pentacles “Paying attention to the tiniest glimmers makes my life glow.”
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SAGITTARIUS or SAGITTARIUS RISING: The Hanged Man “Stillness is the superpower that soothes my soul.”
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CAPRICORN or CAPRICORN RISING: Queen of Pentacles “I am willing to wait for what’s worthy of my presence.”
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AQUARIUS or AQUARIUS RISING: 5 of Swords Rx “My flesh and blood is more than good enough.”
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PISCES or PISCES RISING: 8 of Wands Rx “Raising the stakes brings me closer to the creative flame.”
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Learn more about Bess and her work and check out all her personalized Astro + Tarot offerings HERE.
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes for March 2019, cast by Bess Matassa. Artwork: Prince Láuder
MARCH READING FOR THE COLLECTIVE: The Hermit Rx The magic of March comes from taking a powerful pause, and challenging our definitions of effort, movement, and speed. Hermit energy asks us to chooses its own pace without apology, and to design our own internal habitat according to highly personal spec. This month, commit to only stepping outside of your carefully-crafted cabin when motion is 100% aligned.
Ruled by Virgo, this settled and sovereign energy is a potent reminder that it’s our birthright to discern and sort, and that no one and nothing should force our hand, not even ourselves. Scented with the sweet solitude that comes just before Spring explodes into being, the month ahead invites us to find mini-retreats even as we’re moving forward, and to pen a personal love letter to all that we’re poised to grow …
Read on for the card, mantra, and cosmic audio reading for your sign!
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PISCES or PISCES RISING: The World Rx March Mantra: Perceived limitations feed my liberation.
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ARIES OR ARIES RISING: Ace of Swords March Mantra: New tales begin on consciously cleared ground.
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TAURUS OR TAURUS RISING: 4 of Wands Rx March Mantra: I need no excuse to fully celebrate.
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GEMINI OR GEMINI RISING: Knight of Cups March Mantra: Majestic movement is always an option.
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CANCER OR CANCER RISING: 4 of Pentacles March Mantra: Shoring up my boundaries fortifies my inner channel.
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LEO OR LEO RISING: 8 of Swords March Mantra: Shifting old storylines creates infinite space.
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VIRGO OR VIRGO RISING: Ace of Wands March Mantra: I have every right to follow my own passionate heat.
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LIBRA OR LIBRA RISING: Hanged Man Rx March Mantra: Letting myself be in process illuminates the destination.
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SCORPIO OR SCORPIO RISING: 5 of Cups Rx March Mantra: Every feeling on the spectrum deserves to be felt.
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SAGITTARIUS OR SAGITTARIUS RISING: Queen of Cups March Mantra: Exploring my sensitivities is a precious strength.
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CAPRICORN OR CAPRICORN RISING: The Sun March Mantra: I come fully alive when I let my distinctive flavor come forward.
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AQUARIUS OR AQUARIUS RISING: 10 of Cups Rx March Mantra: Softening towards what’s sweet releases what’s ready to go.
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Learn more about Bess and her work and check out all her personalized Astro + Tarot offerings HERE.
As we launch into the innovative electricity of Aquarius Season, The Star Rx asks us to commit to authentic self-care and reclaim the parts of ourselves we’ve forgotten, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
As we prep for next week’s Total Lunar Eclipse, the Page of Pentacles Rx asks us to restore our connection to the deepest parts of ourselves so we can live straight from the heart, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
With Eclipse Season firing up once again, the Page of Swords Rx invites us to trust in who we really are so we can get down to the work we came here to do, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes January 2019, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Prince Láuder
Art: Prince Láuder
CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING Judgment
Happy Solar Return, Capricorn! You’re starting your year with a major clearing. How major? The depth and breadth and even the volume (spatially and aurally) are all up to you. The beautiful thing about the Judgment card is that it is self-directed. You are the one called to do the digging, to clear the clutter, organize, and finally make some informed and clear decisions about what stays and what goes. This means that if there are some areas that are too sensitive or too fresh to go digging around in right now, you simply focus on another area. One where the soil is loose and easy to move, free of heavy boulders and buried wires. You can choose some light weeding over a major excavation.
However, I do want to challenge you to look for the places that are juuuuuuuust barely ready, that you can push along a little further to get there. This is a major opportunity to make some space for things you want to actively invite into your life this year, while letting go of some long overdue extra baggage. We all have our security blankets – physically, emotionally, and spiritually – and they all have a life cycle. Look around for the tattered remnants of fabric that have started to drag you down more than they lift you up. Launch an expedition to the back of your closet and the bottom of the pit of your stomach to dredge up any rusted treasure you’ve held onto for too long. Then release it back into the wild and step lightly into your future.
Capricorn stone for January: Fuchsite creates a nurturing atmosphere for the heart to open and release any baggage or past woundings. It helps us to accept the past and move forward with compassion.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING Temperance
My dear Aquarius, you are being called to bring a gentle start to the new year. Temperance is one of those cards that makes me instantly release stress. My Cancer Sun and Taurus Moon are attracted to the message of moderation, to not push too hard, to enjoy some quiet even in the midst of pressing deadlines and social calendars. I welcome the reminder to take a step back, pull my foot off the gas, and get a little better view of the horizon before deciding which way to steer the wheel. Are you with me? I am betting on it that you are. Your desire to stoke the flames of freedom in yourself and others makes you well primed to enjoy a chance to gain new perspective that can help feed that fire.
Throughout this month, keep an eye out for ways you can pull back to center. In work, home, love, and all the spaces in between, even out the energy through schedule modifications, dietary shifts, and a full accounting of habits, conscious and unconscious. I can feel you becoming skeptical of what could look like a month of restriction, but remember – this is all in the service of making sure that you have the best possible view on your current standing and situation so you can make informed decisions about how to move forward toward greater independence. Freedom from the constraints of tradition can only truly come when we take the time to examine where we are unthinkingly following a path out of habit, whether that habit comes from our culture, our family, or ourselves. Examine, reflect, and balance it out.
Aquarius stone for January: Amber bathes all that comes into its orbit with warm solar energy. It grounds us in the collective history of life on Earth so we may share in its strength and balance.
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PISCES // PISCES RISING The Star
Oh, Pisces, you luscious, compassionate dreamer. Your year begins with the promise of eternal hope, the ancient Divine feminine splendor of The Star. The 8-pointed star is an ancient symbol of the Great Mother, passed down through the ages to represent such notable goddesses as Lakshmi, Ishtar, and Venus. In the Tarot we receive the wisdom of all iterations of this yin energy through their shared glyph. What greater gift than the hope of creation, restoration, nourishment, reconciliation? It’s a gorgeous outlook to have, particularly at this moment in time, and for your particular personality type. Your great big heart wants to see and to share the best in everyone and everything. You are being invited to indulge in that optimism and hope.
How can you put this into action? For starters, allow yourself to see the good all around you with a pure heart and without fear of being disappointed. Am I guaranteeing you wont be disappointed? Absolutely not. I’m a Tarot reader, not a psychic. I can’t tell you what will or will not happen. What I can tell you is that hope and outcome detachment are not mutually exclusive. Re-read that sentence for me. Now go forth and hope for the very best in and for yourself, your loved ones, and the world! And when you do, every time you do, tack on this little sentiment to the end: “… I will do all I can to help this come to pass while accepting any outcome with a gracious heart.” Practice makes perfect!
Pisces stone for January: Purpurite elevates consciousness into the ethereal realms, bringing heightened spiritual connection, and the freedom that comes with it, into daily life.
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ARIES // ARIES RISING Two of Swords
You’re kicking off the year with a dose of intellectual wisdom, dear Aries. The classic Smith illustration is of a blindfolded woman, conveying what some see as a binding or restriction of her senses. I see her as more of a Jr. High Priestess, able to make a temple anywhere she goes using only the power of her own boundaries and mind. I have a trick I use for coping with traffic. When I see someone driving like a maniac, I say out loud “oh, I hope everythng is ok!”, framing their behavior as a response to an emergency, in which case it would be appropriate. I know the chances of them having an actual emergency are slim to none. I also know that I will never know for sure and that this framework keeps me calm and I prefer to feel calm. Instant mobile temple.
How can you reinforce the boundaries of your mind this month, Aries? Do you need to revise any policies about what goes in and what comes out and when? Your drive to express yourself is an enviable asset. This month gives you a moment to pause and consider whether your current mode of expression is accurately transmitting your message or if there are ways you could be refining the medium and method of delivery. This shouldn’t be a heavy thing. If it feels that way, then take a step back and ask for any areas of improvement to be gently revealed to you. We want this to feel more like a fun puzzle than a final exam.
Aries stone for January: Azurite brings a clarity of mind so sharp and profound that it can crack open insights into the Self and the world that blur the line between observation and psychic knowing.
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING Two of Cups
First, Taurus, let me say congratulations. This year it seems we are moving on from the lessons of Earth that fed you all through last year. And no sweeter way to make this transition than with the gift of pure true love. You know very well that true love exists in all areas of life, not just the romantic realm. True love can exist with and between between friends, family members, animals, and, particularly for you, the perfect meal and throw blanket. Love is the ultimate extension of comfort, the feeling that you are completely in the right place at the right time in the right company and that somehow you have been all along. It makes us feel that we are not alone in the world.
This month, spend as much time as you can with people you either know you love or suspect you could. Accept invitations to dinner parties and small gatherings, places where you can actually have a conversation with someone. Be the first to say hello. The more you offer the more you can receive. Think about how big a wave you can make with the force of your Watery push and see how it returns to you after bouncing off the shore of another heart. You could make real, deep connections now that benefit your life in untold ways. I’d even suggest taking the romance question out of it altogether and simply looking for that true heart connection in terms of general human relationship. After all, that’s where anything worth pursuing romantically is going to come from anyway.
Taurus stone for January: Blue Tourmaline opens connection with the Divine realm in the service of bringing peace and heightened emotional awareness, and can help resolve emotional trauma.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING King of Pentacles
Plant those seeds and watch them grow, Gemini! You’ve got a serious green thumb this month. Exactly what type of seeds is completely up to you, though I highly suggest you keep it in the realm of Earth. This means thinking in terms of practicality, projects, and goals grounded in the material world that you can see and touch. Work is a great area to focus on, but so is anything related to your home. You have access to a certain kind of manifesting magick. The King of Pentacles won’t bestow special powers upon you. It’s more like it allows you to recognize the special powers inherent in other people and things, so you can organize your goals around the bounty of skills and supplies in your immediate sphere.
The really great news about this energy is that once you’ve channelled it to sort out your seeds and plant them, it kind of carries the progress forward for you from there. If you take advantage of it this month, you could be feasting on the fruits of your labor for the rest of the year. So, while you’re dreaming and scheming big and long-term, keep your January to-do list focused on the preparation and launch of your pursuits rather than getting into the actual execution. Exercise trust and patience and emphasize quality over quickness. Sometimes it feels like we’ve been waiting forever to mold our dreams into reality (and sometimes that is accurate!) Instead of letting that wait get you down, try to focus that energy into a devotion to nurturing your goals like you never have before.
Gemini stone for January: Amazonite connects the heart and the throat, allowing communication of deeply held desires within and with the world, paving the way to true abundance.
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CANCER // CANCER RISING Seven of Pentacles
Time to throw those shoulders back and hold that head high, Cancer! You are spending January overcoming doubt in your own creative abilites. A great way to begin is by applying the old advice to “fake it til you make it” to your physical body, taking on the posture of confidence on the outside and allowing the receptors in your brain to pick up the cue and carry that feeling to the inside. The fear of failure or even worse, harsh criticism, can keep you safe in your shell, mitigating risk and stifling opportunity. This month is your chance to set a new normal for the year, to break through the glass ceiling you’ve built for yourself and climb on up to the next level.
First things first – eliminate the words “can’t” and “should” from your internal dialogue this month. You don’t need them. They color throughts with unnecessary limitations. Get creative and more specific with your self-communication. Something seem impossible? Get into exactly why (finances, times, etc) instead of blanket statements that send messages about inherent ability and worthiness. Get in the habit of talking about your goals in the present tense (“I am writing a book” instead of “I want to write a book”) and see how quickly you start forming habits that make these statements true. You are an emotionally fueled being. If you follow your heart, Cancer, the productivity will follow and your self-doubt will melt away. This life is yours. Go out and build it!
Cancer stone for January: Cavansite illuminates inner truth, allowing greater understanding of oneself and one’s abilities and true potential, and can help with gaining access to ancient wisdom.
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LEO // LEO RISING Five of Cups
Be kind to yourself this month, Leo, and allow plenty of time to sink into some watery realms that may be unpleasant or uncomfortable. You are now ready to mourn some old emotional wounds you’ve likely been avoiding for quite some time. Sometimes when we’ve been hurt deeply, it is necessary to pack away the emotions in order to get through our daily lives. It is simply a fact of life that we are not always in a position to process our emotions in real time. But at some point, in order to stay healthy and continue to grow as people, we need to go back and recover what we felt and do the work to integrate the lessons and wisdom offered by the experience. That point in time is now.
You can do this work at your own pace, take small bites and chew them thoroughly before digesting, but make sure you begin right at the top of the month so you have as much time and space as possible to do this work. If you don’t know where to start, pay special attention to what comes up over new year’s. There’s something about the one-two punch of the holidays followed by the pressure of glitz and resolutions that tends to illuminate some areas ripe for emotional growth and renewal. How you process is up to you – therapy, journaling, magick, nature, spa therapy, talks with friends, etc. – you just have to do it! Put that Fiery nature to work to motivate and look forward to a fresh emotional start.
Leo stone for January: Jetpurifies energetic environments, lightening a heavy emotional load and clearing the way for the development of and will to harness personal magickal talents.
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VIRGO // VIRGO RISING The Fool
Ooooo, I like this start to 2019 for you a LOT, Virgo! As a native Virgo Ascendant, I speak here from personal experience and love. Stepping off a cliff with perfect trust is not your strong point. You prefer planning. You’re good at it. You can spot a potential wrench in the works from a mile away and almost instantly conjure a solution to avoid or soften it. This month, I want to invite you to set that skill aside and embrace the art of wandering. Opt for curiosity over cunning and allow the world to take you on an adventure. Avoid making advance plans where possible, and instead see what comes up last minute. Trust that the Universe will place you where and with the company you need to expand into the new year.
Keep this as light-hearted as you can. Make it easy. Instead of bringing your lunch to work, wander down the street and see what you find. Take the train instead of driving. Got to the movie theater and buy a ticket for whatever film plays next. Order the special. While these may seem like silly or inconsequential ways to embrace The Fool, they work to set new patterns in your thinking and physiology that will let this energy seep into more serious area of your life, leaving you more open to exploration in matters of career, home, and love. This is where the magic is. Sometimes all of us need a little nudge from the Universe. Too rigid a stance can prevent us from feeling it.
Virgo stone for January: Serpentine loosens attachment to markers of identity and patterns of behavior, allowing movement into a new realm of action and existence free from past boundaries.
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LIBRA // LIBRA RISING Seven of Cups
Libra, my beauty, to assist you in integrating your lesson for January, I’d like to impart on you some wisdom from one of my very favorite humans, RuPaul. At the end of each episode of his show, we are asked the rhetorical question “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?” It’s catchy, it’s wise, and it’s poignant, reminding us of all the times we thought we had loved and lost when really we were the ones we were searching for all along. I want you to keep this in mind as you head into a month of conquering doubts in your own heart. I find that of all the Sevens, the Cups can be the most challenging, mainly because emotion is so personal and intangible. It’s impossible to measure, difficult to assess progress.
All through this month, be looking for ways to love yourself more completely, more truly. Find out what makes you feel adored, cherished, appreciated. Be a great lover to yourself. As you do, keep track of what makes you tick, what words make up the vocabulary of your heart. Then, armed with this information, you can begin to hold others to these standards, to notice immediately when someone isn’t speaking your same language, and not spend too much time getting lost in translations. Know that any doubts you have around what your heart desires or is capable of can be easily overcome when you simply devote your pure, unconditional love to your own heart first.
Libra stone for January: Pistachio Opal promotes regeneration of mind, body, and spirit, particularly around the heart and emotions. It eases feelings of guilt and fear, bringing deep calm and inner peace.
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SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING The Empress
You catch more flies with honey, Scorpio! January has you opening up that gorgeous heart and letting it shine down on everything you want to grow in the coming year. The Empress teaches us that true abundance comes when we feed the object of our desire – a creative project, new business, home improvements, wider circle of friends, anything – with love. It can be frightening and even stressful to open your heart this radically, especially for someone whose heart runs as deep and dark as yours, but with some practice and patience with yourself, this can be an extremely fruitful exercise. The main thing is figuring out exactly what is represented by those proverbial flies so you can beam that love with laser focus and not get burned or burned out.
Spend the first few days of the month figuring out what you want to grow this year. The custom of new year’s resolutions usually has us thinking of things we can cut out (resolving not to eat sweets, drink alcohol, waste time, etc), but your focus will be only on what you want more of. Did that grab your attention? I am inviting you to be an absolute glutton for what makes you feel content, accomplished, loved. The trick is, you have to show and tell your appreciation for these things and people out loud, in the open, for all the world to hear. The Empress asks us to be as bold as we are discerning in our declarations of love.
Scorpio stone for January: Black Moonstone carries the energy and wisdom of the New Moon, asking us to open our hearts and our intuition to find what it is we are ready, willing, and able to manifest.
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SAGITTARIUS // SAGITARRIUS RISING King of Swords
You’ve got the gift of gab this month, Sagittarius, and the clarity of mind to back it up. Air of Air, the King of Swords is blowing into your sphere to sort out any tangled thoughts, clouds of confusion, or mixed messages that have been floating around. I spend a lot of time trying to get clients to stop trying to “figure things out,” to bring that figuring down out of their head and into their heart and their gut. We humans like to solve puzzles with our big brains and it can be difficult to break the habit. Fortunately for you, you are being invited to lean HARD into that innate human desire and scheme and ruminate and solve as much as you can stand it – and to share your findings with anyone within ear shot.
The communication piece of the element of Air is key. All of those internal musings are really just communications with yourself, transmitting ideas back and forth between different intellectual frameworks and points of view. Communicating internally and externally with clarity and purpose is extremely satisfying both for the person sending and receiving the message. This month is an excellent opportunity for you to polish up and send out any messages that you’ve been wanting to get across. Be sure to take time to dig up any past misfires to get them cleared up and to make sure your words are not only clear and concise, but crafted to communicate with love. The last thing you want is to have an errant word cut into someone, causing them to hear only the pain and not the truth of your message.
Sagittarius stone for January: Muscovite stimulates mental activities and connects them to intuition and the spiritual realm, ensuring all problem solving and new ideas are grounded in Divine wisdom.
The 3 of Wands asks us to gaze into our crystal ball, connect with our psychic gifts, and let a new creative vision emerge, says Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes December 2018, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Prince Láuder
SAGITTARIUS // SAGITTARIUS RISING Six of Cups
Happy solar return, Sagittarius! You’re closing out the year and another journey around the Sun with a little congratulatory pat on the back – centered right over your heart center. Something tells me that ring of Fire you jumped through last month really boosted your intuitive powers, fueling the empathy needed to earn this achievement in the realm of Water. Sixes generally indicate a reversal of fortune after the chaos of the five, a hard-earned win after a long struggle. And because of that I always read in them a deep appreciation for the accomplishment they assume and a deep empathy for those who have not yet made it there. It’s like coming in out of the cold and looking back out onto the street, hoping those still walking are mere steps from their own warm solace.
Maybe what you’re looking out at is another part of yourself that hasn’t made it in, some piece of your heart that can’t quite catch its breath yet, still steeling against the wind. This month, find forgiveness and empathy for all those parts of yourself so you can lift them up and integrate this new emotional lift and use it to help others do the same. If you’re the type that doesn’t care much for birthday celebrations, make an exception this year. Have dinner with a few close friends. Allow them to celebrate the very fact of your existence on the anniversary of your entry into this world and as you do, really feel in turn how grateful you are that they’re here with you.
Sagittarius stone for December: Green Apophyllite. Green Apophyllite helps to cleanse and heal the heart through the power of the natural world, while its attunement to the energy of the Earth grounds our perspective.
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CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING Five of Wands
Lay down that magic wand you’ve been wielding, Capricorn! The time for action has hit a distinct pause. All that glorious conjuring that served you so well last month will not likely get you where you think it will this month. It is time to step back to reflect and observe. And look, I know the Fives have a bad reputation. We (me included!) tend to think of them as unwelcome bumps in the road, barriers to our progress. Let’s turn that around this month. I’ve got a Five this month too (Sun in Cancer), so I’m giving myself the same pep talk I’m giving you. Let’s spend the last month of the year changing our relationship to these challange points, welcoming them with open arms.
All December, I invite you to REVEL in disconnecting from taking action, from creating, from reading all the messages between the lines. You’ve accomplished enough for now. Sit back and enjoy the view. Even better – barely notice the view. Let the whole world roll past you and over and through you as you become very quiet and still. So still that you hear sounds within you never knew were there, the music of your body serenading you, blood pumping through veins and breath steadily moving in and out, cooling and warming as it goes. You can choose to be frustrated by this moment or you can take advantage of it as an opportunity to fine tune your inner frequency without any guilt around slowed productivity, with the knowledge that when you do make moves again, you’ll be wiser and better equipped.
Capricorn stone for December: Grape Agate.Grape Agate provides a safe haven to get settled, centered, and refocused. It calms the mind and body, allowing superficial stressors to take a backseat to more urgent needs.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING Ten of Wands
It’s full steam ahead for you this month, Aquarius, so strap on your coziest work boots and get ready to feel utterly brimming with creative potential. These moments don’t come along often and when they do, there can be outside factors that make them a little sticky. With Mercury stationing direct on the 6th, and following up on all that great interior work you did last month, I feel you’re going to have a really nice period of productivity that will have you wondering how you got it all done. We usually need to slow down on our own projects when the holidays come around, but you are well positioned to elegantly navigate family and social obligations while bringing your own creative visions to life.
Exciting times! My guess is that something blew into your orbit in November that rekindled a previously forgotten desire of your heart, some long lost goal or creative dream. Now is the time for you to bring that dream into reality, into a form that you can see and taste and feel. If you’re unsure what this dream project is, call on the intutive aspect of Wands to guide you. Sit quietly with your eyes closed and ask for clues to be sent into your view that will point toward the most fertile areas of growth. Even if you spend all month doing this once a day without taking action, it would be a month very well spent. We can only make our world as big and lush as we can dream it. Dream big, Aquarius. You have the power to make it reality.
Aquarius stone for December: Shiva Lingam. Shiva Lingam stimulates the physical and energetic bodies, infusing both with the vibrancy and stamina needed to bring crazy dreams into reality through hard work.
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PISCES // PISCES RISING Ace of Swords
Oh, Pisces, this is quite a Solstice gift for you! Your highly tuned empathic sense is the envy of the zodiac, but it can also lead to a murky sense of truth. After all, our perspective and experience determine what we see as real and if you’re able to tap into the perspective and experience of others with such ease, that reality can shift around quite a bit. But this month, you have the great gift of clarity both received and expressed. All of that careful assessment you got into last month is going to be rendered in super sharp focus, high definition realness. Be ready to accept what you see and trust yourself to speak to it. This Divine gift of reason and communication is precious, especially this time of year, coming off a string of retrogrades!
Your gorgeous sensitive heart may be made uncomfortable by what you can see now or by the directness of the words that come to carry your expressions. That’s ok. Instead of trying to avoid or suppress any discomfort, embrace it and turn this x-ray vision you’ve been gifted to the task of seeing where it’s coming from, what it’s rooted in, and what that tells you about yourself. Be kind and patient with yourself, offer yourself shelter, and hold always in your heart the joy of growing and evolving as a spiritual being and a human. And make sure you’re surrounded by your nearest and dearest on New Years. Something tells me you’ll improvise a speech that will leave no dry eye in the house.
Pisces stone for December: Opal. Opal inspires independent thought and action through a connection with one’s innate and deeply held personal truth. It offers the freedom to express oneself openly and honestly.
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ARIES // ARIES RISING Page of Swords
You’re turning over a new leaf to close out the year, Aries! There must have been some beautiful and profound revelations that came out of the heart explosion you went through last month, and now you can get a better grasp on their meaning. You are stepping into a completely new style of communication with yourself and with others, forgetting all the rules you adhered to before. It’s a wonderful way to really feel the integration of all the lessons of not just last month, but the past year. The freshness of the Page energy can sometimes be seen as naive, but here it feels like an achievement, a sign of wisdom, an indication that you’ve gotten all you could out of the previous path and yearn to walk a new one, to learn more.
Allow December to be a clean slate. If there are stories that you’ve been telling yourself about who you are or can be or are capable of, let them go. In your relationships with others, step out of automatic repsonse styles and really consider what you want to communicate befoe your words come out. Open yourself to the wide open expanse of options in your thoughts, your intellectual frameworks, and your verbal and non-verbal expressions. Think of the whole world as your cosmic thesaurus, showing you variations on themes you never knew existed. And whatever you do, resist like hell any urge to fall into old patterns in your interactions with family over the holidays. That is your richest area for growth opportunity this month.
Aries stone for December: Optical Calcite. Optical Calcite offers the opportunity to see things, people, and situations through a different lens, challenging our own perspectives and opening understanding.
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING The Sun
Well, Taurus, here we are. You made it through all of 2018 digging around in Earth and Major Arcana and I have to say, I am deeply impressed. It’s a beautiful thing to see a year tied together like this and I truly hope you are feeling the culmination of lessons around creating the world around you in collaboration with the Divine Universe. And if you’re not yet, you will this month! December holds a beautiful illumination for you, a chance to see and believe as you haven’t been able to before. Your world is about to take on new form and color, new meaning, as you take in this landscape that has developed over the past year. Take time to drink it in and enjoy it.
December can often bring a tendency to overcommit, overschedule, and overindulge. Resolve early to not bite off more than you can chew – literally or metaphorically. You want to maintain a nice, calm center from which to survey your world – especially with the revelations of these retrogrades still waiting to be understood and integrated. It’s been quite a journey for you this year. What you see this month will bring it all into focus, revealing how far you’ve come and giving you hints about how to begin planning for the next year. Don’t forget – the other aspect of The Sun is that it provides the energy needed to grow fruit from the Earth. Takes notes on what seeds find their way onto your path this month.
Taurus stone for December: Garnet. Garnet grounds passion in reality, ensuring that we take an optimistic, yet realistic, view of our personal potential in a given set of circumstances.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING Seven of Pentacles
December is bringing you a lesson in patience and your own power, Gemini. Be ready to encounter many opportunities to confront limiting beliefs about yourself and your productivity. While these may seem harsh or painful at first, know that they are here in the service of showing you how much you truly are capable of and to bolster your trust in your own ability to create. Sevens are about overcoming doubt, and you cannot overcome doubts you cannot name. Before they are named, we just think they are part of the fabric of our reality, a truth that tells us the boundary of our capabilities. So strap in and start digging early in the month. The more you can uncover, the greater the bounty of this work will be – and just in time for a fresh new year!
You know how everyone gets all excited when Mercury stations direct because things can start moving again? Well … don’t get too excited. Not about that anyway. What I want you to try to focus your excitement on instead is the action and process of work itself, the experience of it, feeling how capable your hands and mind are to create and build. The output isnt important right now, your trust in your own ability and your faith in the eventual outcome of that ability is. If you have difficulty with this, give yourself small reminders – set realistic daily goals, put one foot in front of the other, and see them completed by the end of the day. Trusting yourself is a practice. Keep working at it and let it unfold.
Gemini stone for December: Vanadinite.Vanadinite clears blocks to creativity and productivity, particularly those coming from within ourselves. It can unlock hidden potential and artistic avenues of exploration.
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CANCER // CANCER RISING Five of Cups
Ok, Cancer, don’t freak out. I feel your deep sighs reverberating through the cosmos. Trust me, they were mine too when I pulled this card for us. What a way to close out the year, right? But then I challenged myself to push past those feelings and consider more deeply the implications of this mournful, chaotic energy, and now I am honestly stoked about it! That Page energy last month really stirred the emotional pot. Feelings were coming fast and furious, creating surprising reactions and the potential for huge transformation. We’re not who we were before. No one can be after making themselves so radically vulnerable and open, and we wouldn’t want to be. And now we have the chance to mourn the loss of our old selves before we step into the new year.
So often we are told we’re being dramatic or negative if we express a sense of loss when our situation changes or we evolve as people. We’re not supposed to admit attachment to lifestyles or mindsets that we’ve outgrown. But if we don’t acknowledge the attachment, we can never be released from it. So, let’s do this, Cancer! Ruminate on who you no longer are, make a shrine to your old self, write yourself letters, and be ready to gather it up and let it all go. I’ll give you extra credit for ritual disposal of an item that is symbolic of who you used to be – and EXTRA extra credit if you do it on the Solstice.
Cancer stone for December: White Calcite. White Calcite helps to gently cleanse and revitalize the energetic body, removing debris from past woundings and traumas from this life, previous lives, and inherited trauma.
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LEO // LEO RISING Five of Swords
All this big cosmic power has got you a little mixed up, Leo, but it’s no reason to panic. While this month may feel unrelentingly confusing, you can greatly soften the experience by eliminating one little phrase form your repertoire: “figure it out.” Our human brains are obsessive little things. They like order, categorization. They are made uneasy by ambiguity. In other words, they like to get things figured out. However, there are very few things in life that we actually NEED to figure out in order to get through our day to day. Where the keys are so you can leave the house? Yes. What exactly your sister meant by that comment on social media? Not so much. You following me?
Stick to the basics this month. Don’t figure anything out. Practice the art of purposeful naivety. That guy who cut you off on the freeway? Maybe he has a family emergency! You’ll never know for sure anyway, so why not believe it and spare yourself the churning anger of road rage. If you feel called to it, read up on the Buddhist concept on nonduality. Try on the idea that good and bad do not exist, that everything in the world is neither and also both. If you need to make decisions this month, rely on your gut instinct and your heart. Air is in chaos, but Fire and Water should serve you well. Play your cards right in this energy and you’ll be the most content person at every holiday gathering of the season.
Leo stone for December: Rainbow Hematite. Rainbow Hematite encourages mental clarity and focus while removing stagnant energy and helping to raise consciousness and psychic abilities.
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VIRGO // VIRGO RISING The Chariot
You are riding off into the sunset of this year with style, my dear Virgo. You’re packing up only what you need and allowing the fruits of your labor to sweep you off your feet and into your future. And with the serious amount of internal balancing and excavation you’ve been up to over the past couple months, it should be a very easy task deciding what it is you want to carry forward into this next chapter. Allow the last few days of Mercury’s retrograde trip to shake off before you make final decisions, but don’t stall too long. You’ll want to be moving before the holidays hit. Make the Solstice on the 21st your deadline for any decisions on what you want the landscape of 2019 to look like.
The Chariot is about the vehicle, not the driver. The message here is to pay attention to what it is that you are allowing to carry you. My guess is, you’re in good shape, but do take time the first half of the month to check the metaphorical oil and the tire pressure on the container you’re driving through life. Sometimes we get on automatic pilot, we forget to check our navigation closely, to get that squeaky hinge oiled up. Look around your life and make sure that everything that you trust to keep you moving forward is in good working order – for YOU. And then sit back and enjoy the ride. It should be a beautiful journey into the new year.
Virgo stone for December: Pink Tourmaline. Pink Tourmaline is a particularly soothing heart stone, creating a safe environment for the heart to open and be nurtured and healed by oneself, loved ones, and the Divine.
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LIBRA // LIBRA RISING Two of Swords
Ah, Libra, do you hear that? It’s the sound of your mind quieting down after all that cosmic balancing out last month. As we shift out of the retrogrades and into the last lap of 2018, you’re hitting that runner’s high clarity where everything sort of pops into focus and the pieces that have become irrelevant fall away like dead leaves from a hibernating tree. Allow the gentle breeze of your native element to sweep through every fiber of your being, coaxing out any dust that may have become lodged in the corners, leaving you renewed. This is a time for a fresh start, for getting back to basics. The seed of wisdom in the element of Air is settling itself into your consciousness. Your task is to make sure it has a healthy place to grow.
Take care to free your mind of clutter this month. I am big proponent of regular meditation for everyone all the time, but for you, this month, it is crucial. Twenty minutes twice a day is my preference, but if you can get even five in I’ll take it. Don’t get bogged down in which style of meditation is “correct” – that’s just your brain cleverly distracting you. Pick one and go. Change it up if you need to. Just be disciplined and do it daily. Trust me, you’ll thank me when the Soltice rolls in and you find you have a crystal clear vision of how you need to proceed with your work and life in the new year.
Libra stone for December: Bismuth. Bismuth transforms through providing a hard reset on connection with others, the environment, and our true selves, inspiring a push for positive change and growth.
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SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING King of Wands.
You’ll be the belle of the ball this month, Scorpio, and not (just) because of your good looks and charm! You’re going to have an almost psychic ability to plan and execute on your obligations, freeing you to truly enjoy the social time you schedule and earn. Kings represent the Air of their suit, and when that mental clarity and vision is combined with the magick and intuition of Fire it creates quite an enviable atmosphere of laser-focus and deft execution. You’ll have a supernatural ability to know exactly where and with whom your energy is best spent. If you have a tendency to feel dragged down by draining holiday events, rejoice and look forward to a month spent surrounded by inspiration.
In order to get the full benefit of this energy, you have to have great boundaries in place. Boundaries – not retaliatory meaures. Keep the stinger under wraps and your focus on making sure you don’t feel the need to use it in the first place. If this sounds overwhelming, spend the last few days of Mercury’s retrograde run asking for guidance on how you can let go of anything standing in the way of your embracing the power of a loving “no.” Sometimes even just acknowledging you have an issue will be enough for you to clear it. You cannot deny what you choose to see. Light a candle, throw rocks in the sea, let it go. And then shine up your dancing shoes. You have a a lot of reveling to do.
Scorpio stone for December: Nuummite. Nuummite activates powerful internal magick and self-mastery. It reveals areas of weakness so they can be molded into strengths and shows us how to reach our full potential as creative beings.
The Devil is a juicy opportunity to dance with your shadow and free yourself from shame, says Sagittarius Season’s reader-in-residence, Brandon Alter … Cast using the Prisma Visions Tarot
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes November 2018, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Mystic Mondays Tarot by Grace Duong
Mystic Mondays Tarot, by Grace Duong
SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING Ten of Pentacles
Happy Solar Return, my dear Scorpio! I don’t think I could have pulled a better gift for you if I tried. Whatever collaboration you got into last month is really paying off one way or another and you are set to have a gilded month metaphorically, and perhaps even literally speaking. The highest potential of the element of Earth, that physical manifestation of all we create and consume and live on and around and through is visiting you, and when it comes knocking, you have to be ready to answer the door. When you do, don’t be surprised if you find a who’s who of your biggest cheerleaders and most cherished mentors crowded at your front door like carolers. There is a strong sense of community that accompanies this gift. You’ve heard misery loves company? So does abundance, baby!
Now about that collaboration from last month – if you got into something that doesn’t feel right or isnt working out, don’t force it. Sometimes collaborations or relationships of any kind work out best by dissolving. If this is the case for you, resist the urge to indulge in resentment, or worse, revenge. You have bigger fish to fry and besides, once Mercury stations retrograde on the 16th, you may get an unexpected return from someone in your past who wasn’t quite right for a project at the time, but is now ready, willing, and more than able to help you transmute any lead weighing you down into pure gold. Keep your eye on the prize, Scorpio, and you could be sitting pretty by month’s end.
Scorpio stone for November: Peridot. Peridot is the master stone for prosperity. The vibrations it exudes excite the energetic body, creating an atmosphere rich in material and emotional abundance.
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SAGITTARIUS // SAGITTARIUS RISING Nine of Wands
You’re levelling up your mastery of Elemental Fire this month, Sagittarius, and I have a sneaking feeling you’ll know exactly what to do with it. Heating up in your native element can just as easily mean a deep inward journey of intuitive spiritual expansion as it can a direct charge forward in physical space, but following the big outward burst of last month, my money is on the former. With back to back retrogrades, there will be plenty of information dredged up to fuel the flames of introspection and dedication to ascension. It may not be easy, but it will be well worth the trouble. Expect to experience this month as preparation for an unknown event. Follow the clues and don’t jump ahead to conclusions. Let it unfold.
Your innate sense of wonder will be heightened this month and you may feel called to explore the world around you in service of opening greater exploration within. Taking a few day or weekend trips would be a great idea. Just remember to give yourself plenty of extra time and to plan for all contingencies if you go after Mercury stations retrograde on the 16th. We don’t want you having a surprise journey through frustration as you wait on the side of the road for AAA. You don’t have to go far and you don’t have to get exotic about your travels. Sometimes taking a walk down an unfamiliar street in your own neighborhood can open up an entire world of sacrosanct adventure.
Sagittarius stone for November: Red Calcite. Red Calcite promotes an increase in life force energy, revitalizing the physical and energetic bodies. It heightens appreciation for the beauty of life on Earth.
9 of Wands, Mystic Mondays Tarot
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CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING The Magician
What an absolutely perfect follow up to last month, Capricorn! Following exactly the development of the Major Arcana energy as mapped to the Tree of Life, you’re stepping out of your open-souled wandering and into a month-long intensive on the art of self-mastery. It’s safe to say your November will be interesting at the very least, life changing at best. With these back to back retrogrades adding static to the signal between individuals, this is a wonderful time to be focused more on you, who you can be, what you can create, and what you seek to accomplish. Remember, Magician energy is not about controlling others or your surroundings – that’s called tyranny – so be careful where you point that magic wand.
My greatest wish for you this month is that you can use this momentum to get your inner workings and powers identified and organized so you have a clear path to refinement and eventually mastery. That way, you’ll be prepared to shift into a more practical mode moving into December and the new year. To do this, you’ll have to have at least a vague idea of what your long(ish) term goals are. Spend some time at the beginning of the month identifying what you want to accomplish and what you need to create and manifest to get there. Then spend the rest of month building and refining your magical chops to conjure it all up. You are being told that you DO have the power to create your ideal world, so dare to think big.
Capricorn stone for November: Cinnabar. Cinnabar acts as a catalyst of transformation into our most exalted form. It opens powerful abilities of manifestation and draws creativity and prosperity.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING Three of Swords
You’ve got more lessons blowing in from your native element this month, Aquarius! October’s fresh perspective will come in very handy as you work in the potentially treacherous realm of collaboration in thoughts and communication. The classic image of this card from the RWS deck and the Sola Busca before it show a big red heart with three swords stabbed through, a decidedly brutal take on this energy. While it can sometimes feel that way to navigate multiple points of view – within ourselves or among others – if we stay centered and remain open, these can be great times of growth and expansion. Not just hearing, but listening to, processing, and integrating points of view different from our own is essestial to our development as humans.
This could get veeeerrrrrryyyy sticky after Mercury stations retrograde on the 16th if you let it. To avoid confusion and heartache, make sure to take extra measures to reduce daily stress as much as possible so you are operating from a place of calm security. Get plenty of sleep, take long baths, eat foods that make you feel good emotionally AND physically, and for the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT procrastinate. You want to be ready to process these messages in real time, especially if someone or something from your past sneaks back in to stir the pot. If you feel a storm brewing, head right for the still eye of it and watch it churn and toss all around you. Be an observer. When the clouds clear, step back into participant mode.
Aquarius stone for November: Green Calcite. Green Calcite soothes the body, mind, heart, and spirit. Its gentle, calming energy loosens anxiety and aids in releasing stress, allowing room for the heart to speak.
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PISCES // PISCES RISING Five of Pentacles
My dear Pisces, are you doubting the wisdom of your choices from last month already? Did the call to action brought on by that gorgeous flaming queen (of Wands) leave you second-guessing the ease with which you were able to choose, to discern, to refuse? Fear not, dear one. Though making hard choices is somewhat contrary to your all-inclusive nature, it is necessary to allow you to really pour your gooey cosmic self into projects, situations, and relationships that truly set your soul aflame. Anything you have walked away from to get closer to your ideals will surely have someone else running toward it with open arms. The world is a big place, Pisces, and we can’t devote ourselves to everything in it.
This month, take time to notice where you feel a fear of lack. I’m talking about wondering whether taking that dream vacation is pulling you away from other opportunities you’ll regret missing later, saying yes to gigs you know you don’t want, not wanting to burn the last candle in case you can’t get more. All of these things can be considered prudent, but with this chaotic Earth energy swirling around, they can easily spiral into unnecessary worry and heaviness. Take extra care to assess whether something is a reality or a projection (fear, worry, etc) before deciding how to approach, and keep your eye tuned to what you have rather than what you don’t.
Pisces stone for November: Ocean Jasper. Ocean Jasper eases the mind of stress and worry to allow for full enjoyment of life. Its positive energy encourages fearless self-expression and release of negativity.
5 of Pentacles, Mystic Mondays Tarot
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ARIES // ARIES RISING Ten of Cups
Your famously fiery nature is going to get a little softer this month, Aries. The gentle waves of high mastery in the emotional realm are here to smooth over the rough spots and help tune your heart in to the frequency of unconditional love. This can be a wonderful opportunity to deepen existing relationships, strengthen your sense of community and your place within yours, and even rekindle some relationships that may have gone a bit cold. After all, you never know what the winds of Mercury retrograde will bring your way when they blow in on the 16th. Whether messages or actual people from your past, try to approach them with an open heart, open mind, and open eyes. Sometimes looks can be deceiving. Unconditional love doesn’t mean unconditional acceptance. Get familiar with the difference early on in the month.
The key to making this month really sing for you is getting your intuition sharpened up right at the top. You don’t get a lot of ink spilled on your intuitive nature, but I see it clearly. Instinct is just another word for intuition and you’ve got that in spades. You are known for acting quickly on instinct and that can earn you a reputation for being rash or impulsive. Let this Water energy douse the outward action part of that flame and you’re left with a pure intuitive sight that can keep you seeking out and letting in only the people and situations that truly resonate with your highest vibes. And THAT, dear Aries, is golden.
Aries stone for November: Blue Topaz. Blue Topaz attunes the mind to the true guidance of the Higher Self. It clears our vision so we can see what we truly desire and see the path forward to getting there.
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING Six of Pentacles
You’ve got something to prove and the means to do it this month, Taurus, and based on how your year has gone so far, I think you just may be the one who ends up being most impressed. I don’t say this because I feel you’re likely underestimating yourself or doubting your abilities, but because I feel like this year’s absolute master course in the element of Earth has likely elevated your game much more than you could ever have imagined. It can be difficult to see the the heights you’ve got to when the climb has been a steady shallow incline. Take a moment at the beginning of the month to look back over this year and see how far you’ve come in your ability to manifest, to mold your surroundings, to create a home for yourself and those you hold dear.
You’ve got to know where you’re at to accurately assess what a real accomplishment looks like. Sometimes we can misinterpret our own progress and accidentally hold ourselves back by shooting for stars that turn out to just be flickering street lamps in the near distance. You can be as humble as you are stubborn, Taurus, and neither is going to get you to where you truly long to be. Resist the inner voice that tells you that striving for accomplishment is a vain grab for glory. Working to achieve the life of comfort you long for on your own terms is a noble and Divine pursuit. Reach for the stars, just check them out with a telescope first to make sure they’re true.
Taurus stone for November: Chrysanthemum Stone. Chrysanthemum Stone awakens the mind, heart, and spirit to what is possible. It reveals our greatest dreams and provides the grounding and luck needed to achieve them.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING Two of Cups
You may just be the envy of the zodiac this month, Gemini. The sweetness of the Two of Cups is unrivaled in the Tarot in my book. The spark of emotional connection with a window into the enormity of what can come from it, the air of discovery and exploration, the excitement of building without knowing for sure what the end result will be. It can be incredibly intoxicating. And I am not just talking about romance. These sparks of connection can come with new friends, co-workers, even family members. They can come with people who have been in our lives forever but suddenly take on a new role or switch spheres from personal to professional or vice versa. One of the greatest gifts of being human is to connect on a profound level with other incarnated souls on Earth and this month it’s all yours.
How do you know if you’re experiencing a Two of Cups moment? If the connection is real or just a smoke screen? If you’re being lead on or taken advantage of or if your rush of anticipation is reciprocated? Well, you can’t. And that’s ok. With your wit and charm, you will likely attract many into your sphere if you choose to leave the gate open. When you do, take the time to really look and listen as much as you’re feeling your way into a new relationship. Radical openness requires intensely good boundaries and the ability to dance your way around them so they don’t feel like harsh walls to others. It’s a delicate proposition, but I think you’re up for it.
Gemini stone for November: Kunzite. Kunzite opens the heart to give and receive all forms of love. It is especially great at tuning the heart in to the frequency of Divine Love and true joy.
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CANCER // CANCER RISING Page of Cups
You’re right in your element this month with a Cups card, Cancer, even while being pushed out of your comfort zone by the adventurous Page. You sometimes find yourself in a bit of a dilemma, yearning for deep emotional connection but being reluctant to come out of your shell to get it. This month it is time to face facts: it’s too small in there for anyone but you. You have to make a choice. You can either stay solitary and protected or you can venture out of your cozy fortress and risk being hurt in the service of opening your heart to the world. Any attached Crabs out there thinking ‘well, I have a partner, so this doesn’t apply to me’, sorry! It applies to you tenfold. We Cancerians have a tendency to secretly fortify our defenses even more in relationship. As the risk of injury increases, so does our desire for protection.
Time for a month of radical vulnerability. Stay with me. I know Venus is retrograde. I know Mercury is gearing up to follow suit and possibly interfere with communication and that is scary. But what’s more scary is playing it safe with your heart when the depth of emotional connection you truly desire is only available to those who take risks to get it. People open up to people who are open. Take the lead. As a Cardinal Water sign, you are the natural leader of emotion. Step up onto the podium and preach the gospel of leading with your heart like no one’s ever hurt it before.
Cancer stone for November: Angelite. Angelite opens a channel for communicating with our guides and angels. It helps tune us in to receiving communications and gives us greater access to their Divine love.
Page (aka Princess) of Cups, Mystic Mondays Tarot
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LEO // LEO RISING Strength
This is shaping up to be quite a nice little stroll through some of the greatest hits of the Major Arcana, Leo! The Magician, The Hermit, and now Strength. It conjures up a narrative of someone who discovers their power, goes into seclusion to study and master it, and comes back to the village ready to serve the community and themself by embodying the level of strength that can only come through a recognition that we are all extensions of the body of the Earth and the Universe. That someone is you, Leo! What will you do with this newfound level of Strength? What are you ready to accomplish that you were not just last summer? How does this awareness of your own power and your being as but one small part of the much larger body of the cosmos shape your thinking on that?
It can be overwhelming to sit with this kind of information. We tend to want our actions and goals to reflect the grandeur of how we see our place in the world. Accepting ourselves as parts of an eternal Divine body does not help in making decisions. So start small, so small that your activities and accomplishments will be invisible to everyone but you. Start within your own body. How can you take care of your body with this new strength? Do you feel able to make different choices about what you put into or on your body? Give yourself time to grow into this story. It’s going to continue to develop for a very long time.
Leo stone for November: Tiger Eye. Tiger Eye clarifies the workings of the mind through balancing the energies of the physical body. It restores balance to all levels of being, inspiring strength and fairness.
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VIRGO // VIRGO RISING Judgment
Ooooo, Virgo! Moving from Justice into Judgment is a wonderful lesson in the workings of the Tarot. They seem similar but represent very different ways of redistributing energy. Last month I talked about seeing Justice as a seesaw, moving only up and down in a single, two-dimensional plane. Judgment is bigger and messier. It calls on us to dig around to find what we have buried in this life and other lifetimes past, present, and future. It can extract stories from alternate timelines and alternate stories that are bothering us somehow subconsciously, spiritually. Where Justice is about balance, Judgment is about exhumation. There are some things that are just too sticky to be easily released. Some things require some digging.
So get our your shovel, Virgo, and get ready to get your hands dirty. With back to back retrogrades helping to loosen the soil, there is going to be plenty for you uncover and examine. Some you will re-plant back down in the Earth, some you will set free, some you will thoroughly dispose of. It’s a big job, but you have to try not to be too precious about it. Get all Marie Kondo on the psychic debris you find. Be brutal in your assesments, but kind in the execution. Yanking something away before you’ve fully detatched will just give you something else to dig out later. Practice your self care and drink lots of water. Seriously – it helps to clear your energy as much as it does your cells.
Virgo stone for November: Lepidolite. Lepidolite is a powerful ally in emotional healing. It can help uncover and repair old wounds, and smoothe over frayed nerves, clearing the way to true acceptance.
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LIBRA // LIBRA RISING Temperance
You are being called to reassess where your center lies as you leave your birthday month and head toward the holidays, dear Libra. Temperance as a virtue calls for moderation, which is exactly what is needed to get into the more delicate alchemy of resetting our psychic equilibrium. Moderation in consumption, in the expenditure of physical energy, in the amount of work and of play we allow ourselves, in our sleep. Reigning in our habits gives us a closer look at what’s really going on underneath them. Are you really that busy at work or are you feeling inadequate and trying to prove yourself wrong? Did you really need that afternoon nap or would your body be better served with a brisk walk? Did you need to spend all day editing that presentation or did you really just need to trust yourself a bit more?
These are real questions. You might be that busy, need a nap, and benefit from a heavy handed edit. Take this month to find out. Temperance is of course also associated with abstaining from alcohol. If this rings bells in your head, go with it and give yourself a little break. Take this time to really get to know what makes you not just tick, but purr. It’s easy to fall into patterns without even knowing it and to keep on racing ahead without considering how these patterns effect our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Meditate on it it, journal about it, talk about it with your friends and loved ones. This is your time to take control of what has become automatic.
Libra stone for November: Scolecite. Scolecite carries a highly developed energy of inner peace and deep tranquility. It is an excellent stone for meditation and for feeling at one with the spirit world.
The Sun invites us to welcome illumination, while protecting ourselves from the burn of over-exposure, says this month’s reader-in-residence Alisha Cigalotti …
Dive into this month’s medicine for your sign with our Numinous Tarotscopes October 2018, cast by Melinda Lee Holm. Artwork: Invisible Light Tarot by Brandy Eve Allen
Happy Solar Return, Libra! Your birthday gift from the Tarot is a brand new relationship with the vast possibilities inherent in the material world. While the Aces are the pure gift of their element, you could make an argument for the Twos carrying the most promise. Two gives us something to bounce off of, something to stack, it’s the number that lets us know that something MORE is possible. When this card comes up in readings it always gives me the image of that spark of expansion that happens when, after a period of relative financial hardship, you finally have those 2 proverbial nickels to rub together again. It’s that sweetness of anticipation that really colors this energy and it’s truly a fabulous way to begin your personal new year.
What are you truly wishing to receive for your birthday this year, Libra? What special gift has your eye? Is it something you could begin building yourself? Is the real gift this year that you awaken and heighten your power to create what you’ve been waiting to receive? Try to keep this grounded down in the Earth, your physical world. With Venus retrograde starting the 5th, bringing it up into the watery emotional realm will not prove as fruitful. If you are looking for love, focus on building your own platform. Water does find its own level after all. You don’t want to be down rolling in the mud when it comes calling. I mean, unless you do … What you draw into your sphere to fill it is a choice. Use this month to build out the container.
Libra stone for October: Carnelian. Carnelian is the stone of the warrior. It ignites the Fire of courage, strength, and passion needed to keep pursuing goals when the going gets tough.
Two of Earth (Pentacles), Invisible Light Tarot
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SCORPIO // SCORPIO RISING Three of Pentacles
Your passion has the power to draw collaborators into your sphere this month, Scorpio, and they will posess skills highly complimetary to your own. Whatever it is that you were getting fired up about last month has a great opportunity to start to become very, very real in October. Now is the time to look around and identify people around you who posess three essential qualities: 1) High level of enthusiasm about you and your ideas 2) Skilled in a discipline you are not, and that is needed for your planned endeavor 3) You like being around. This last one is so important. Sometimes we can be quick to pull people in who are admirably talented, but have personalities that can conflict with our own. It can be tempting to try to “make it work” in the service of long term goals. Avoid this temptation at all costs.
The thing is, Scorpio, you are a deeply emotional person at your core. You need to feel supported and appreciated to feel accomplished. Sometimes your enviable ambition can get in the way of prioritizing this need. But getting into a partnership with someone who does not provide this support will only be bring more delays down the road when you have to take a break from productivity to work out interpersonal issues. And with your … “gift” for cutting to the core with your words when cornered, these could prove to be lengthier than you think. Keep everything in alignment with your heart and you’ll be on your way to building that metaphorical (or literal) castle you’ve always dreamed of.
Scorpio stone for October: Rose Opal. Rose Opal brings a soft serenity to the emotional and energetic body. It helps to provide a tranquil place for the mind to clear and more accurately assess a way forward.
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SAGITTARIUS // SAGITTARIUS RISING Six of Wands
Be ready to bet high and win big this month, Sagittarius! You’ve got the energy of accomplishment in the realm of Fire on your side. In Pamela Colman Smith’s classic illustrations, this energy is depicted as a figure riding into town on a white horse and I like that vibe – triumphant, not ashamed to celebrate victory, close enough to the chaos and devastation of battle to not take any of it for granted. That’s the real secret to betting big – never forgetting how you survived what came before, always remembering you posess the tools to fight your way out of the worst of situations to emerge victorious. There’s a scrappiness to the sixes and I feel it most strongly in the suit of Wands. That ability to act instinctually, to intuit the best way through and out of a jam, to turn those sticky lemons into lemonade.
So, what’s it gonna be this October, dear Archer? Did the housekeeping you got into last month reveal any areas of your life that could use a little love and attention? Has the changing of the seasons got you remembering some goals you were distracted from over the summer? If nothing’s coming up immediately, take some time to clear your mind and tap into your intuition. Drink ginger tea, eat spicy food, light an orange candle, carry blue kyanite in your pocket, meditate like your life depends on it. Acting on instinct will lead you directly to the places where you can safely take the risks you need to take to come out on top.
Sagittarius stone for October: Blue Kyanite. Blue Kyanite forms a bridge to the astral plane, opening intuition and psychic abilities. It helps to clear energetic static and barriers to receiving non-verbal and non-physical messages.
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CAPRICORN // CAPRICORN RISING The Fool
I just knew last month was getting you ready for something special, Capricorn. And here we are, sending off into October with the cleanest slate in the cosmos! The Fool is a dreamy, child-like energy. Not immature, but closer to Source, lacking the buildup of barriers to trust and perception that our human lives inevitably gather. This is not to be mistaken for naivety! Often it means quite the opposite. To earn the ability to walk in the enlightened footsteps of The Fool, we most often must endure hardship, learn hard lessons, and have our petty concerns stripped away by circumstances beyond our control. Getting here is not easy and it is not usually comfortable, as you likely found out in last month’s chaos of communication.
All through October, I want to invite you to experience your life and the world with a trust you’ve never allowed yourself to have. Imagine what the world would be like if it didn’t matter if you tried and failed, if you stumbled and everyone saw, if you spoke your truth and it fell on deaf ears. Would you believe me if I told you those things really don’t matter? The ultimate embodiment of strength is being impervious to the woudings the world can inflict. What better way to accomplish this than by being utterly and radically vulverable and open? Stripped of artifice and hiding nothing, we can have no regrets or doubts about how we’ve presented ourselves. The ultimate freedom. How would you live if you had no fear of falling?
Capricorn stone for October: Lemurian Seed Quartz. Lemurian Seed Quartz Crystals are imprinted with the records of ancient Divine wisdom handed down from the lost city of Lemuria. They elevate consciousness and promote trust in the Universe.
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AQUARIUS // AQUARIUS RISING Page of Swords
You’re being carried into October on a fresh, youthful breeze, Aquarius! And not a moment too soon. You’ve had your thoughts wrapped around the weighty topics of work and productivity (or perceived lack thereof) lately and this should be a very welcome reprieve! The Pages don’t seem to know the word “should.” They never got the rule book and they do not make it their business to read posted signs and regulations. Children of the Earth, they trust in their inherent connection to the most stable of elements to keep them steady while they freely explore the vast field of possibilities in the element of their suit, in this case, Air. The freedom to try out new and unfamiliar ways of thinking, of communicating inwardly and outwardly, of creating intellectual frameworks, is knocking on your door, Aquarius!
Take advantage of this while you can. These bursts of fresh perspective are incredibly valuable and they don’t come around very often. Getting the opportunity to open your mind to new ways of thinking and of expressing these thoughts can be revolutionary. Our whole experience of life and our world is shaped by language – a tool of Air. How can you broaden the reach of your experience by expanding your vocabulary? What old definitions are you ready to update? What new words and concepts can you integrate into your lexicon? Is there a whole new language – verbal, written, symbolic – that you are finally ready to take on as your own?
Aquarius stone for October: Aquamarine. Aquamarine is at once calming and empowering, soothing the emotional body and strengthening connection to the divine feminine. It can help uncover deep subconscious emotions and open clear, loving communication.
Page of Air (Swords), Invisible Light Tarot
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PISCES // PISCES RISING Queen of Wands
Remember when I said last month was not the time to make any big changes in your life, Pisces? I hope you took my words to heart and got all your internal alignments in order because now IS the time for those changes. And the direction is coming straight from your sweet spot – that big dreamy heart. Queens all carry a center of Elemental Water. As a type, this means that they whatever suit they are in, they lead with their emotional self, always checking in with the heart before taking action. In the suit of Wands, this develops into a kind of emotional instinct for magick that has your name written all over it. October should have you feeling right at home!
Enjoy this cozy feeling, but don’t let it make you complacent. Fire needs fuel and it’s up to you to provide it in whatever form feels right to stoke the flames. Feeling a need to burn away past disappointments or failures? Great. Feed that to the Fire, but get it out of the way early in the month. You’ve got more forward-looking pursuits to tend to. What can this Fire burn a path toward for you? What kindling will clear the way most quickly? What are you willing to let go of to make yourself light enough to keep up with the most unpredictable of elements? Look deep into your heart to find what it is you want to manifest, put on that wizard’s hat, and get to work.
Pisces stone for October: Prehnite. Prehnite gently releases emotional wounds and provides a deep inner peace that allows motivations and actions to be intrinsically connected to the heart.
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ARIES // ARIES RISING Two of Wands
Your journey of Fire continues, Aries! Beginning in July, you’ve had a string of lessons from the Wands family. From chaos to mastery to play, it’s been a pretty well-rounded curriculum. And now in October, it’s time to begin to explore the real, tangible possibilities of all the concepts you’ve opened up to and integrated over the past few months. The twos offer the first spark of practicality in their element, giving us a glimpse into what we can accomplish in their suit. In Fire, it’s a promise of magick, of finely tuned instinct, of acting and knowing from the gut. If the Pages ask us to throw out the rule book, the Twos ask us to begin to compile our own personal grimoire based on lived experience.
Being an independent spirit at heart, this should be music to your ears! Essentially, the Universe is graduating you from your studies and offering up an internship where you can put all your hard-won knowledge to work YOUR way. You have four glorious weeks to take advantage of this opportunity. How will you spend them? Have you been eager to get deeper into your practice of magick? Wanting to hone your intuition? Get moving on a particular project – professional or personal? Whichever aspect of the element it is that has you yearning to jump out of the frying pan and into the Fire, dive in early and keep going all month long. That magic wand isn’t going to wave itself and it would be crying shame to let all this incredible potential go to waste!
Aries stone for October: Pyrite. Pyrite is the master stone for manifesting dreams into reality. It promotes the confidence, creativity, and willpower needed to accomplish goals large and small.
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TAURUS // TAURUS RISING King of Pentacles
Could this be the culmination of your entire year’s journey, Taurus? Or is it just the beginning? The Kings offer us both. Being the last in line on the subtle journey of elemental flavors that is the Court, they hold the satisfaction of completion and the inevitable return to the role of novice in the Page or even the original gift of the Ace. I’d like for you to keep this in mind this month as you celebrate this moment of mastery in your native element. I subscribe to the system that names Kings as the Air of their suit, the intellectual of the bunch. While in some cases this can make the energy veer a bit cold, in the case of the Earth suit, it brings a much needed lightness to the heaviest element.
What can you see about your material world when you climb up onto the Air that you can’t when you’re down digging around in it? How does your understanding of your world, your place in it, and your ability to mold it change when you consider it with an intellectual distance? My usual takeaway from this card is that the surest path to abundance is to allow and encourage everything in your sphere to be exactly itself, nothing less and nothing more. The appeciation and cultivation of natural inclinations and talents – in humans, communities, situations, even materials – allows us to expend minimum energy for maximum results. And what do we do with all this leftover energy? We’ll leave that to the Ace and the Page.
Taurus stone for October: Agate. Agate emanates an energy of gentleness and overall wellbeing. It has a stabilizing influence that allows small concerns to fade away so focus can be turned to the bigger picture.
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GEMINI // GEMINI RISING Judgment
Now that your emotional core has been thoroughly stirred by the Queen of Cups’ visit last month, Gemini, it’s time to sift some of the heavier stuff out of that beautiful mud. All through October, you’ll have opportunities to let go of emtional patterns, frames of reference, old woundings, limiting thoughts, and anything else that is generally not in service of your personal evolution. This can sometimes be an unpleasant process, but with all the work you’ve already done to soothe and renew your emotional body, I don’t see it being too painful for you. Instead, my guess is that you’ll welcome this wave of release as a well-earned thank you gift from your future self and the Universe for your kind efforts and gestures.
Though you’ll be working at this all month, you’ll have a major push with the Full Moon on the 24th. I like Full Moons for releasing work, setting intentions and then feeling the pull away as the Moon wanes. You have a lot of time to prep for this one, so make it count. Let go of the little things that don’t give you much trouble throughout the month and make notes on things that are a little stickier. These will be your focus on the 24th. Keep the energy in release – not banishing. The more we stay in a loving mode with ourselves and the rest of the world in our magickal workings, the less risk we have of getting a cosmic backlash.
Gemini stone for October: Epidote. Epidote is a powerful ally for being made aware of and releasing any attachments or patterns that stand in the way of achieving full potential and enlightenment.
Judgment, Invisible Light Tarot
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CANCER // CANCER RISING Queen of Pentacles
You really are getting into the spirit of harvest season, Cancer! The Queen of Earth is all about gathering up the bounty she’s carefully and tenderly cultivated and using it to create something magnificently and utterly her own. This level of personal creation requires a level of dedication bordering on obsession. Every card has a challenging aspect and with the Queens, this tendency to shut out the outside world must be managed carefully. Make sure to lift your head up from your project now and then this month. Take daily walks, share a meal with a friend once a week, go out for coffee once in a while instead of making it at home. Remember – you are a human taking guidance from a Tarot archetype. You are not expected to embody this archetype in ways that impede your ability to live a healthy human life.
The keyword we want to embrace with Queens is devotion. Pick a project early in the month, one close to your heart, and devote yourself to it. Make it something that really reflects your highest aspirations for yourself, something truly and uniquely your own. This can be work-related or purely personal, private, or intended to shine out to the whole world. The important thing is that it’s of you, by you, and in the service of your own happiness and personal evolution. Unsure if what you’re thinking of checks all those lofty boxes? Ask your heart. She always knows. You don’t want to miss out on this chance to indulge your reclusive side in such a richly productive manner.
Cancer stone for October: Lapis Lazuli. Lapis Lazuli opens intuitive inner vision, allowing the deep insight, self-knowledge, and reflective wisdom needed to fully embody the role of King or Queen of the Self.
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LEO // LEO RISING The Hermit
Ooooo, Leo, I have to admit I’m a bit jealous of your card this month! Being called to get snuggly with wisdom right as the seasons turn is absolutely perfect in my book. As the days begin to shorten in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s a wonderful time to be called inward, to pull back on all that beautiful magick you’ve been pouring forth and take some time to reflect, gather, and regroup. And for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere – this calculated retreat can be just the thing to get you set up for a gloriously productive spring, spiritually speaking. Any time the seasons shift, getting a moment to really process all that we’ve learned over the last few months with purpose and dedication is an absolute gift.
So, whichever season you’re headed into, consider what lessons this past one has presented and seek out ways to lean further into those teachings. Whether you’re curled up alone under a blanket or out on a beach, synthesizing knowledge and experience into fully formed wisdom is a pivotal excercise in spiritual and personal growth. After all, if we don’t take time reflect, we can find ourselves doomed to relive the same lessons over and over! Now there’s one more piece here that cannot be overlooked under any circumstances: The intention you hold as you churn through this information you’ve piled up MUST be one of putting the wisdom in a container you can hand out to others. Wisdom is just a plain old secret until it’s shared.
Leo stone for October: Sodalite. Sodalite carries a dual influence of inward journeying and discipline. It assists in identifying and staying on the path to greatest personal evolution and expansion.
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VIRGO // VIRGO RISING Justice
Usually when this card comes up, Virgo, I get a strong feeling about a decision needing to be made, a single motion or situation that tips the scales from one side to the other. We so often think of Justice as a pretty heavy energy, a sign that someone or something is going to get what’s coming to them – for better or worse. But with you this month, I am seeing things differently. Why not ride the scales of Justice like a seesaw, reveling in the incredible ability we have as intellectual, emotional, and spiritual beings to consider both sides of any debate? After your wild ride through the heady realm of Air last month, even an Earth child like you should be up to the challange. And I have to admit, the mental image this creates brings me great joy.
I’d like to propose a game for you to play all month, Virgo. Whenever you are confronted with a situation or question that seems to have an obvious answer, especially if that answer is “right” or “wrong,” just take a moment to try on the other answer for size, just for sport. The idea is to stretch out your thinking a bit, get you out of your comfort zone, expose you to new points of view. You have an incredibly fine tuned moral compass, even if your views dont always mesh with those of others, and with that comes a real imperative to try on different points of view. Without these exercises, we risk falling from discernment into harsh judgment.
Virgo stone for October: Black Tourmaline. Black Tourmaline provides protection from negativity and purification of the energetic field, and helps in establishing and maintaining healthy energetic boundaries.
As we begin to harvest the fruits of the year so far, the 4 of Wands invites us to spark unbridled joy and celebrate our precious life force, says this month’s reader-in-residence, Alisha Cigalotti …
As we prepare for Libra Season’s major cosmic shifts, the 10 of Wands asks us to keep our goals front of mind in moments of difficulty, says this month’s reader-in-residence, Mademoiselle Danielle … Cast using the Dark Days Tarot by Wren McCurdo
